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Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research

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J. Chem. Pharm. Res., 2011, 3(2):182-198

ISSN No: 0975-7384
CODEN(USA): JCPRC5

Comparative study of polychromatic transient absorption

measurements for two generations of pyrene-terrylene dendrimers
Jasmeet Kaur

Department of Chemistry, Maharani Lal Kunwari Post Graduate College, Balrampur(U.P.), INDIA
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ABSTRACT

The work presents time-resolved polychromatic transient absorption measurements for two
generations of pyrene-terrylene dendrimers and was compared with those of three model
compounds. The chemicals and solvents were of A.R. grade and used as such. As a solvent for all
samples toluene (HPLC, Aldrich) was used without further purification. From the study it can be
said that if there are multiple excitations within a molecule there will be most probably a
competition between different kinetic processes. It seems that in T1P´4 and in T2P´8 there is a
competition between the annihilation process and the energy transfer process. The outcome of
this competition cannot be determined quantitatively since this will depend on the conformation
of the molecule. A small difference could be related to the relative amount of donor acceptor
chromophores and/or to the relative amount of energy transfer rate/singlet-singlet annihilation
rates which can change by increasing the generation number.

Keywards: Pyrene-terrylene dendrimers, Fluorescence spectra, Femtosecond polychromatic

transient absorption, donor-acceptor chromophores.
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INTRODUCTION

Dendrimers[1] are complex, but well defined chemical compounds that can contain selected
functions in predetermined sites of their tree-like multi-branched structure and host molecules or
ions in their internal cavities. Because of such unique properties, dendrimers are currently
attracting increasing attention for a wide range of potential applications in such different fields as
medicine, biology, chemistry, physics and engineering. Dendrimers containing photoactive

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components[2-15] are particularly interesting since (i) luminescence signals offer a handle to
better understand the dendritic structures and superstructures (ii) cooperation among the
photoactive components can allow the dendrimer to perform useful functions such as light
harvesting, (iii) changes in the photophysical properties can be exploited for sensing purposes
with signal amplification, and (iv) photochemical reactions can change the structure and other
properties of dendrimers.

Ultrafast kinetic processes and single molecule properties of polyphenylene dendrimers

containing peryleneimide chromophores at the rim were investigated in detail previously[16-28].
Recently, different generations of dendrimers containing a terrylenediimide acceptor
chromophore in the center and decorated with pyrenylimide chromophores at the rim have been
investigated by single molecule and time resolved spectroscopy[29]. Energy transfer processes in
dendrimers are of current interest to several spectroscopy groups[30-32]. However, most of the
investigated dendrimers are based on a flexible scaffold[33-36] where conformational mobility often
leads to undesired chromophore interactions such as aggregation, excimer formation and dye self-
quenching[37, 38].

In this paper, I present time resolved polychromatic transient absorption measurements for two
generations of pyrene-terrylene dendrimers and were compared with those of three model
compounds.

EXPERIMENTAL SECTION

The chemicals and solvents were of A.R.grade and used as such. As a solvent for all samples
toluene (HPLC, Aldrich) was used without further purification. Five different compounds have
been investigated, the molecular structures of which are shown in the above Chart 1(a) and 1(b).
Two generations of pyrenylimide-terrylenediimide chromophore in the core, polyphenyl side arms
and dependent on the generation number four (T1P´4) or eight (T2P´8) pyrenylimide chromophores
at the rim.

An acronym of the type XnYm is used where X denotes the core type of the sample (e.g.
terylenediimide), n = 0, 1, 2, 3 the generation of the dendrimer attached to it and Ym the type and
number of chromophores attached to the rim of the molecules (P´3, e.g., denotes three
pyrenylimides). Besides these two dendrimers, three model compounds were also studied. Two
model compounds were dendrimers with an sp3-carbon atom core and the same polyphenyl side
arms containing pyrenylimide chromophores. They had respectively one (C1P´1), and three (C1P´3)
pyrenylimide chromophores connected to the rim. The third model compound (T1P´0) was the same
molecule as the first generation dendrimer but without the four pyrenylimide chromophores
connected to it. The synthesis of these molecules has been reported previously[39, 40].

2.2. Instrumentation
2.2.1. Steady state fluorescence spectra: The ground state absorption spectra were recorded on
a Lambda 40 spectrophotometer (Perkin Elmer). The steady state fluorescence spectra were
recorded with a SPEX fluorimeter.

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O N O

O O

T1P´0

O O

O N O

R1

R2 C N

R3
R1 R2 R3
C1P´1 H H H
C1P´3 P´I P´I H

Chart 1(a): The first generation terrylenediimide core model compound T1P´0 and two first generation carbon
core model compounds C1P´x with one (x = 1) and three (x = 3) pyrenylimide chromophores attached.

2.2.2. Femtosecond polychromatic transient absorption measurements: The amplified

femtosecond double optical parametric amplifier (OPA) laser system has been described in detail
previously[41]. In short, an NdYVO4-pumped titanium Sapphire laser (Millenia and Tsunami,
Spectra Physics) was regeneratively amplified giving pulses of 1mJ at 800 nm, ca. 120 fs pulse
length and 1 kHz repetition rate. One half of this energy was used to pump an optical parametric
amplifier (OPA-800, Spectra-Physics). The output wavelength range of the OPA is extended by
harmonic generation using one or two barium borate (BBO) crystals, thus making a range of
300nm to 900nm accessible.

While one half of the output of the regenerative amplifier was used in one OPA to generate the
excitation pulse of the appropriate wavelength the other half served for generation of a fs white
light continuum for probing the absorption changes. This fs white light continuum was generated
in a 1mm sapphire plate. The actual detection was done by a 256-lines CCD camera (EEV 30,
Princeton Instruments) mounted at the exit of a 30 cm spectrograph (SP 300i, Acton Research).

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O N O
O N O

O
N
O
O
N
O

O N O
O O
T2P´8
O O

O N O

O
N
O
N

O N O O N O

O
O N
N O

O N O

O O

O O
T1P´4
O N O

N O
O N
O

Chart 1(b): Molecular structures of the first and second generation dendrimers T1P´4 and T2P´8 respectively.

The transient signal of the samples was derived from a sequence of measurements: at one delay
position, four spectra were recorded with the CCD camera. By selectively blocking the pump
and/or white light beam, the absorbance was determined as:

A = log (SA-SD)/ (SEA-SE) (1)

where SE denotes the spectrum recorded while only the excitation pulse was interacting with the
sample. This gave the correction for the fluorescence. SEA was the spectrum while both the
excitation pulse and the probe pulse were present at the sample position. SA was the spectrum
while only the probing white light was present and SD was the spectrum while both the excitation
pulse and the probe pulse were blocked before reaching the sample. At a fixed delay position, this

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set of measurements was repeated and averaged to improve the signal to noise ration. This was
done for 512 equally distant delay positions in time windows of 5 ps, 50 ps, 400 ps and 1500 ps.

To investigate possible multiphotonic processes, the intensity of the exciting laser beam was
decreased by a factor of about ten in an additional series of measurements. These measurements
were performed at two different detection wavelengths: 525 nm and 645 nm. To improve the
signal to noise ratio, the probing white light continuum was passed through a monochromator and
detected using a photomultiplier tube (R 1527p, Hamamatsu). The electrical signal from the
multiplier tube was gated by SR 520 Standard Research systems and detected by SR 830 Stanford
Research Systems. For all measurements performed here, the excitation wavelength was kept
constant at 490 nm with the only exception of the measurements of T1P´0 where 620 nm was
employed. By appropriate filtering the probing wavelength range was reduced to 445 nm-735 nm.
Besides this, all other experimental conditions were kept constant: all measurements were
performed at room temperature in 1mm optical path length cuvettes under magic angle
polarization conditions. All compounds were dissolved in toluene at a concentration that yielded
absorption of ca. 0.3 per mm at the excitation wavelength. By measuring the cross correlation
between 490 nm excitation light and 595 nm probe light (derived from the continuum using
appropriate filters) the time resolution of this setup was determined to be about 278 fs.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1. Steady state spectroscopy:

The steady state absorption and fluorescence spectra of all investigated compounds are shown in
Figure 1. The absorption spectrum of the dendrimers is a superposition of the absorption spectra
of the model compounds. The only difference between the absorption spectra of the two
generations is the ratio of the pyrenylimide to terrylenediimide absorbance, which is explained by
the relative amount of both chromophores which is 4:1 in the first generation and 8:1 in the
second generation respectively.

♦) and the
Figure 1: Steady state absorption and emission spectra of the investigated compounds. Top: T1P´0 (♦
calculated transient spectrum as a sum of the contribution of ground state bleaching and stimulated emission
6) and C1P´3 (7
(-), Middle: C1P´1(6 7), Bottom: T1P´4 ( ) and T2P´8 ().

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Since the presence of both chromophores within the same molecule does not lead to the
appearance of a new band or to differences in the ground state absorption spectrum, it can be
concluded that there are no interactions between the chromophores in the ground state. However,
when the pyrenylimide chromophores are excited at 490 nm within these dendrimers, the
fluorescence of these pyrenylimide chromophores is almost completely quenched compared to
the model compound C1P´1. Instead, the fluorescence of the dendrimers at longer wavelengths
almost completely resembles the emission spectrum of the model compound T1P´0. This feature
is a strong indication that within these dendrimers the excitation energy is efficiently transferred
from the pyrenylimide chromophore to the terrylenediimide chromophore.

3.2. Time resolved polychromatic transient absorption measurements:

3.2.1. Model compound T1P´0: Transient absorption spectra of T1P´0 were obtained at an
excitation wavelength of 620 nm. The results are shown in Figure 2, top left. At positive delay
times the signal is decaying on a nanosecond time scale and it has a negative value throughout the
complete spectral range except between 445 nm and 545 nm where the signal is positive.

For the interpretation of these spectra and their positive or negative values it must be considered
that in general there are three contributions to a pump-probe signal: excited state absorption
(positive) and both stimulated emission and ground state bleaching (both negative). From
previous studies,31 it is known that T1P´0 has a fluorescence quantum yield of almost unity and a
fluorescence lifetime of 3.0ns. Since the excited state absorption observed decays on a
nanosecond time scale it is attributed to an S1-Sn absorption of the terrylenediimide chromophore.

Figure 2: Transient absorption spectra of the model compounds T1P´0 (top left) and C1P´3 (bottom left) and the
dendrimers T1P´4 (top right) and T2P´8 (bottom right) at different delay times.

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When the ground state absorption spectrum of this model compound is compared with its
transient spectrum after 50 ps it is observed that in the former two absorption maxima are situated
at 615 nm and 670 nm with an intensity ratio of 1:2. In the latter, a band at 615 nm is found,
however the second band is 8nm red shifted and the intensity ratio between the two bands has
changed to 1:3.

These differences can be explained in the following manner. The steady state spectra of T1P´0
(Figure 1) shows that the ground state absorption ends at 735 nm, whereas the fluorescence
spectrum covers the spectral region from 645 nm to beyond 845 nm. It is known from previous
experiments that there is a very small spectral shift of the fluorescence spectrum within about 5ps
after excitation. This means that if there is stimulated emission after 20 ps, it can only contribute
to the signal starting from 645 nm. As a result, the negative signal in the spectral region between
525 nm and 645 nm is fully dominated by ground state bleaching. Hence, the transient absorption
band at 615 nm perfectly matches the ground state absorption band at 615 nm.

Since at 615 nm only ground state bleaching is contributing to the transient signal and the molar
absorption coefficient, ε, of the ground state absorption is known, it is possible to calculate the
concentration of the excited states. Based on this information an ε-value of the S1-Sn absorption
band of the central terrylenediimide can be calculated to be about 33000 Lmol-1 at 495 nm, the
maximum of the S1-Sn absorption band in toluene. At the red edge of the transient spectrum of 20
ps, (e.g. at 725 nm), the intensity of the negative transient signal is comparatively larger as
compared to the one at 615 nm. However, the ground state absorption at 725 nm is almost
completely non-existent as compared to that at 615 nm. Thus a considerable amount of stimulated
emission must contribute to the transient signal at 725 nm. This stimulated emission is
contributing to the signal in the complete fluorescence range.

If one takes the two negative contributions (ground state bleaching and stimulated emission) into
account it is clear that the transient spectrum beyond 645 nm is thus a sum of two transient
spectra, one of the ground state bleaching and one of the stimulated emission. It is possible to
calculate the theoretical negative spectrum with the information from the steady state absorption
and the fluorescence spectra. For this, one has to account for the fact that the Einstein coefficient
for stimulated emission scales with the Einstein coefficient for spontaneous emission corrected
with the third power of the frequency and that the integral of the transition probability for ground
state absorption and stimulated emission has to be the same.

It is also possible to get kinetic information by observing the intensity of the transient absorption
signal as a function of time at fixed wavelength. It is seen that the intensity drops on a
nanosecond time scale. However, from 650 nm to 730 nm two additional processes can be
determined with time constants in the order of 8 ps and 98 ps with amplitudes which both go
negative, starting from zero at 640 nm, crossing the zero line to positive and decreasing again.
The presence of these kinetic processes and their wavelength dependence was discussed earlier
when this model compound was investigated with the fluorescence up conversion and single
photon timing technique. A vibrational relaxation process with a time constant of 5ps and a
structural relaxation process of the central terrylenediimide chromophore were detected with a
time constant of 115 ps.

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3.2.2. Model compound C1P´1: For the measurement of the transient absorption spectra of
C1P´1, the excitation wavelength was set to 490nm. The results are shown in Figure 3. At positive
times two different parts in the transient spectrum can be observed, a negative signal reaches
from 475nm to 595nm with a maximum at about 535nm and second, a positive signal beyond
595nm with a maximum at approximately 650nm. Both features can be seen instantaneously after
excitation and decay on a nanosecond time scale.

Figure 3: Transient absorption spectra of the model compound C1P´1 at different delay times: 10 ps, ( ), 1 ps
(••), 2 ps (∆
∆), 5 ps (∇
∇), 10 ps (∋∋) and 30 ps (3
3). Insert top left: detailed display of the 520 nm-580 nm region of
the calculated (-) transient spectra from the normal ( ) and the 5 nm blue shifted (••) fluorescence spectra.
Insert bottom right: detailed display of the 520 nm to 580nm region.

Since the signal in the transient absorption spectrum above 595 nm is positive, it can be attributed
to an excited state absorption. From previous studies it is known that C1P´1 has a fluorescence
quantum yield of almost unity and a fluorescence lifetime of 4.0 ns, thus the excited state
absorption found in the measurements shown here can be attributed to a S1-Sn absorption within
the pyrenylimide chromophore.

From the fact that the steady state absorption spectrum ends at 550 nm and the fluorescence
spectrum extends from 505 nm to 745 nm, the negative signal in the transient spectrum cannot
completely be attributed to ground state bleaching. It seems that ground state bleaching
dominates the signal between 475 nm and 505 nm. From 505 nm both ground state bleaching and
stimulated emission are responsible for the negative signal whereas between 555 nm and 595 nm
stimulated emission dominates. However since the steady state fluorescence spectrum extends
upto 745 nm it must be considered that there is also a contribution of stimulated emission beyond
555 nm.

The maximum of the negative signal is situated around 535 nm. However, this is neither the
maximum of the ground state absorption band nor the maximum of the steady state fluorescence.
This can be rationalized by following the same arguments as stated for the model compound
T1P´0. The spectrum for model compound C1P´1 is as shown in Figure 4.

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The differences between this calculated spectrum and the actual measured spectrum can be
attributed to excited state absorption. It is possible to calculate it by subtracting the calculated
theoretical negative spectrum from the actual measured spectrum. The result of this calculation is
shown in Figure 4. In the transient absorption spectrum two maxima can be seen, one at 475nm
and another at 643nm.

Figure 4: Full spectral region display of the calculated (-) theoretical negative ( ) transient absorption
∆) is
spectrum and the measured (••) transient absorption spectrum after 28 ps of the model compound C1P´1. (∆
the calculated (-) S1-Sn transient absorption spectrum of this model compound.

A kinetic analysis of the transient absorption intensities in function of delay time for different
wavelengths reveals an additional picosecond relaxation process. This process can be seen in the
inset of Figure 3. It seems that the band with a maximum at 535 nm becomes broader and after 28
ps shows two distinctive maxima, one at 525 nm and one at 550 nm. As reported earlier this
relaxation leads to a small red shift of the fluorescence spectrum of about 5nm within 8 ps.

3.2.3. Model compound C1P´3: Another series of experiments was performed on C1P´3, which
contains three pyrenylimides at the rim. Since the chromophore is the same, also for these
measurements the excitation wavelength was set to 490 nm. Comparing the transient absorption
spectra of C1P´3 with C1P´1, one can see that the general shape is identical thus the attribution of
the signals in C1P´3 can be the same as in C1P´1.

However, the temporal evolution of the transient spectra of C1P´3 and C1P´1 is grossly different.
It seems that the signal in the multichromophoric dendrimer decays faster when compared to
C1P´1. This feature is demonstrated in Figure 5. In accordance with previous findings, this feature
is attributed to a singlet-singlet annihilation process. This is confirmed by an additional series of
experiments performed at 525 nm and 645 nm in which the only varied parameter was the
excitation intensity, which was decreased by a factor of four. The results of these measurements
are shown in Figure 6. The decays for C1P´1 are independent of the excitation intensity in
contrast to those of C1P´3 which strongly supports annihilation process. Thus at 525 nm, the
annihilation process shows up by removing excited pyrenylimide chromophores from the excited
state, leading to a decrease in stimulated emission from the excited state and a decrease in ground

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state bleaching. This singlet-singlet annihilation process is the additional decay channel in the
transient absorption measurements of C1P´3 compared to C1P´1.

Figure 5: Plot of the transient absorption signal as a function of time recorded at 525nm (top) and 645 nm
∆), C1P´3 (∇
(bottom) for C1P´1 (∆ ∇), T1P´4 ( ) and T2P´8 (••) upon excitation at 490 nm.

Figure 6: Three dimensional display of the transient absorption intensity (6 6OD*10-2, A) as a function of
wavelength (nm, B), and time (ps, C) for C1P´1 (top, left) and C1P´3 (top, right). Excitation energy dependent
∆,∇
plots of the transient absorption signals as a function of time at high (∆ ∇) and low (∆ ∆,∇
∇) excitation energy
recorded at 525 nm for C1P´1 (bottom, left) and C1P´3 (bottom, right) upon excitation at 490 nm.

3.2.4. First generation dendrimer T1P´4: For the transient absorption spectra of T1P´4 the
excitation wavelength was set to 490 nm. The transient spectrum is completely identical to that
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found for the model compound C1P´1. At time delays longer than 28 ps the transient spectrum of
the dendrimer is exactly the same as T1P´0. This time evolution of the transient spectrum can be
explained as followed. At time origin, the 490 nm excitation pulse promotes a pyrenylimide
chromophore from its ground into the S1 state. This excited pyrenylimide chromophore transfers
its energy to the central terrylenediimide chromophore in its ground state yielding a pyrenylimide
chromophore in the ground state and a terrylenediimide chromophore promoted from the ground
state to the S1 state which is detected as a bleaching signal in the transient absorption spectrum. A
temporal view of this dataset is shown in Figure 7, bottom, for a detection wavelength of 645 nm
which is the maximum of the positive signal in the transient spectrum of the model compound
C1P´1. The decay times which were determined were 2 ps, 28 ps and a nanosecond component.
This is in accordance with previously reported fluorescence up- conversion data.

3.2.5. Second generation dendrimer T2P´8: The results for the second generation dendrimer are
shown in Figure 2, bottom right. The transient spectrum immediately after excitation perfectly
resembles that of C1P´1. During the following 68 ps it temporally evolves into a spectrum which
perfectly coincides with the transient spectrum of T1P´0. Also in this case, the energy transfer
process occurring between the excited pyrenylimide donors and the terrylenediimide acceptor is
responsible for the kinetics albeit at a slower rate constant as can be seen in Figure 7, top. This
decrease in energy transfer rate was also reported before using fluorescence and upconversion
measurements. Within the framework of the Forster formulation an effective interaction radius R0
can be calculated from the steady state spectra and the fluorescence quantum yield of the donor
chromophore (φD) as 5.7 nm assuming κ2 =2/3. The donor-acceptor center-to-center distances
within the dendrimers depend on the conformation of the dendritic arms. From molecular
modelling representative values of 2.1 nm for T1P´4 and 2.9 nm for T2P´8 are obtained which are
well within the Forster radius, indicating the presence of an efficient energy transfer process.
From these donor acceptor distances and the Forster radius R0, inversed rate constants of energy
transfer of 12 ps and 82 ps are calculated for the first and second generation, respectively.

Figure 7: Three dimensional display of the transient abosorption intensity (6 6OD*10-2, A) as a function of
wavelength (nm, B), and time (ps, C) for T1P´4 (top, left) and T2P´8 (top, right) upon excitation at 490 nm. Plot
of the transient absorption signals as a function of time recorded at 645 nm for the dendrimers T1P´4 (bottom,
left) and T2P´8 (bottom, right) upon excitation at 490 nm.

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Another finding is the difference between the transient spectra of T1P´4 and T2P´8 after
completion of the energy transfer. The transient spectrum of T1P´4 completely resembles the
transient spectrum of T1P´0 including the small positive contribution below 555 nm. In contrast,
the transient spectrum of T2P´8 does not become positive in this spectral region. To investigate
this difference, excitation energy dependent measurements were performed at a detection
wavelength of 525 nm. The excitation intensity was decreased by a factor of about five. The
results of these measurements are shown in Figure 8.

6OD*10-2) as a function of time

Figure 8: Excitation energy dependent plot of the transient absorption signals (6
at high (, •) and low ( ,) excitation energy recorded at 525 nm for the dedrimers T1P´4 (top) and T2P´8
(bottom) upon excitation at 490 nm.

3.3. Energy transfer and singlet-singlet annihilation:

3.3.1. Energy transfer rate is faster than singlet- singlet annihilation rate: In this case, if
more than one pyrenylimide chromophore is excited at the same time, one of them will transfer
its energy to the central terrylenediimide chromophore leading to one excited terrylenediimide
chromophore and (atleast) one excited pyrenylimide chromophore. The latter cannot transfer its
energy anymore (“closed” ET-system) before the former has returned to its ground state. Thus, if
there are three or more pyrenylimides excited, a relatively slower annihilation process would be
going on in parallel with a relatively faster energy transfer process.

3.3.2. Singlet-singlet annihilation rate is faster than energy transfer rate: In such a case, if
more than one pyrenylimide chromophore is excited initially the annihilation process will occur,
leading to a situation with only one excited pyrenylimide. Then this single excited pyrenylimide
chromophore transfers its energy to the central terrylenediimide acceptor leading to a molecule
with an excited terrylenediimide chromophore only. In order to calculate the amount of photons
available per molecule in the illuminated area of the laser spot, some parameters have been
considered. The diameter of the laser beam at the position of the sample was determined to be
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about 78 µm. Using this and the concentration of the molecules, it is possible to calculate the
amount of molecules in the excitation spot volume of the sample. Together with this information
and the excitation energy measured at the sample position, 1.3 photons are estimated to be
available for each chromophore in the illuminated volume. Thus, it can be concluded that there is
a possibility of exciting more than one chromophore with one molecule.

Another consideration which has to be made is the dependence of the rate of energy transfer and
the rate of singlet-singlet annihilation upon the distance and the orientation of the chromophores
involved. It is known that the rate of energy transfer within the dendrimers is related to the
conformation of the side arms which are connected to the central terrylenediimide chromophore
which result in a spread of energy transfer rate constants. Rate constants for energy transfer were
reported to be 2 ps and 23 ps in T1P´4 and 20 ps and 66 ps in T2P´8. There is also a spread on the
rate constant of singlet-singlet annihilation between the pyrenylimide chromophores at the
periphery of the molecule. This will be more pronounced, especially in the case of T2P´8 since in
this molecule two pyrenylimide chromophores are connected to the same side arm which can give
a much smaller distance than between pyrenylimide chromophores on side arms across the
molecule. This phenomenon was reported previously where rate constants of singlet-singlet
annihilation of 3 ps and 38 ps were obtained. The reported average distance between
pyrenylimide chromophores was estimated to be 3.7 nm. Molecular modelling also indicated a
spread in intramolecular pyrenylimide distances between 0.4 nm and 2nm for T1P´4 and between
0.4 nm and 3.4 nm for T2P´8.

3.4. Second generation dendrimer T2P´8 at 525 nm:

For T2P´8 the decays measured at 525 nm and two different excitation energies are shown in
Figure 8, bottom. At high excitation energies, the signal remains negative at all times, whereas at
low excitation energies the signal becomes positive after approximately 118 ps. At 525 nm, the
measured signal is comprised of stimulated emission of pyrenylimides (negative), ground state
bleaching of pyrenylimides (negative) and excited state absorption of the terrylenediimide
(positive). If annihilation is faster than energy transfer in this molecule, the resulting state after
energy transfer would comprise of only one excited terrylenediimide chromophore yielding a
positive signal after energy transfer, as discussed above. These expectations are fulfilled by the
results from low excitation energy measurements (Figure 8, bottom). However, at high excitation
energies, the signal after energy transfer is negative. Thus, it can be concluded that there are still
excited pyrenylimides present (besides the excited terrylenediimide) after the energy transfer
process is completed.

3.5. First generation dendrimer T1P´4 at 525 nm:

The contributions of the signal are the same as within the second generation dendrimer, thus a
negative signal from the pyrenylimides and positive signal of the terrylenediimides. At high
excitation energies, the transient signal at time zero is much larger than at low excitation energies
as shown in Figure 8 top.

3.6. Comparison of T1P´4 with T2P´8:

After aboul 28 ps the signal in T1P´4 is the same as at low excitation energies which is in contrast
to T2P´8. This means that the pyrenylimide chromophores which were excited additionally in
T1P´4 do not contribute to the signal after 28 ps, thus they do not transfer their energy to the

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terrylenediimide. A possible reason could be that they lose their energy by singlet-singlet
annihilation before or in competition with the energy transfer to the terrylenediimide.

The excitation intensity dependent measurements of T2P´8 differ also by the fact that at high
excitation energies, the signal of the T2P´8 is negative while this is positive for T1P´4. A fact to
consider is that in T1P´4, the relative amount of pyrenylimides to terrylenediimides is 4 to 1 while
it is 8 to 1 in T2P´8. The solutions of the two dendrimer generations were prepared to have an
identical optical desity of about 0.4 at the excitation wavelength of 490 nm. This means that the
same number of pyrenylimides is excited in both samples but the ratio of pyrenylimide:
terrylenediimide is doubled in the second generation. This results in a larger dependence of the
kinetics on the excitation intensity.

Figure 9: Plot of the efficiency of energy transfer as a function of interchromophoric distance for energy
transfer between an S1 state of pyrenylimide and an S0 of terrylenediimide (••), annihilation between two S1
states of pyrenylimide (∆∆) and annihilation between an S1 state of pyrenylimide and an S1 state of
terrylenediimide ( ).

Another explanation for the difference between T1P´4 and T2P´8 could be another possible
excited state process which was not discussed earlier. The S1-Sn absorption band of T1P´0 has a
maximum at 500 nm and it ranges to 550 nm. There is a small overlap between the fluorescence
spectrum of the pyrenylimide chromophore and the S1-Sn absorption of the terrylenediimide, thus
excitation transfer between an exited state of pyrenylimide and an excited state of
terrylenediimide cannot be excluded. This process will lead to pyrenylimide chromophores in the
ground state and a terrylenediimide chromophore in the higher excited state (S2). Since the
spectrum and the ε-value of the S1-Sn absorption band is known, it is possible to calculate an
overlap integral and an R0 value in the framework of Forster energy transfer. This calculation
leads to an R0 value of 3.5 nm for singlet-singlet annihilation between an S1 state of pyrenylimide
and an S1 state of terrylenediimide assuming a random orientation between the chromophores
involved (κ2=2/3). For singlet-singlet annihilation between two excited pyrenylimide
chromophores, an R0 value of 5.1 nm is reported.30 In Figure 9, the efficiency of energy transfer,
which is defined as E = R06 / ( R06 + R 6 ) as a function of interchromophoric distance is displayed
for three different processes which are: energy transfer between an S1 state of pyrenylimide and
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Jasmeet Kaur J. Chem. Pharm. Res., 2011, 3(2):182-198
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an S0 state of terrylenediimide (eq.2) (R0=5.7 nm), annihilation between two S1 state of
pyrenylimides (eq.3) (R0=5.1 nm) and annihilation between an S1 state of pyrenylimide and an S1
state of terrylenediimide (eq.4) (R0=3.5nm)

S0P´I +STDI
0
→ S0P´I +S0TDI (2)
S +S → S +S
0
P´I
1
P´I
0
P´I
1
P´I (3)
S1P´I +S1TDI → S0P´I +S1TDI (4)

It can be seen that for a given distance, the process of energy transfer between a pyrenylimide
chromophore and a terrylenediimide chromophore always has the highest efficiency. The average
distance between the central terrylenediimide chromophore and the pyrenylimide chromophores
at the rim changes, from 2.1nm in the first generation to 2.9 nm in the second generation. This
change in distance is somewhat responsible for the difference between the two generations in the
intensity dependent measurements since the probability for annihilation between an S1 state of
pyrenylimide and an S1 state of terrylenediimide decreases from 0.92 to 0.72.

CONCLUSION

The study concluded that if there are multiple excitations within a molecule there will be most
probably a competition between different kinetic processes. It seems that in T1P´4 and in T2P´8
there is a competition between the annihilation process and the energy transfer process. The
outcome of this competition cannot be determined quantitatively since this will depend on the
conformation of the molecule. A small difference could be related to the relative amount of donor
acceptor chromophores and/or to the relative amount of energy transfer rate/singlet-singlet
annihilation rates which can change by increasing the generation number.

Acknowledgement
I am thankful to Mr. Vishnu Kumar Sahu, Research Assistant, Department of Chemistry,
Maharani Lal Kunwari Post Graduate College, Balrampur, for valuable suggestions and help.

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